"Who goes there!"
Buzz buzz buzz!
Victor's underground base immediately sounded the alarm. Although Sai dealt with the person who discovered him, that person still managed to press the alarm button.
"This is bad, I can't gather any more information...."
Sai quickly made a decision in his heart, and after taking some photos of the Divine Tree, he hurriedly headed outside.
However, Victor's underground base was heavily guarded. Recently, Sai was close to tracking him down, prompting Victor to hire more guards outside. Upon hearing the alarm, all patrolling guards rushed towards the site.
Sai didn't have much time to gather information; after taking some photos, he chose to retreat promptly.
During the retreat, Sai still encountered many of Victor's guards.
Although these guards weren't as strong as Sai, there were too many of them, and some were particularly powerful.
Fighting all the way, Sai took down many guards of the Divine Tree base, consuming quite a bit of Chakra; fortunately, he escaped from the underground base. As long as he left the base, someone would meet him outside.
"Finally...."
"So you've escaped, have you?"
Hearing someone pick up on his words, Sai immediately threw an Explosive Tag Kunai behind him in alert. As the explosion roared, he jumped forward.
"Who goes there...."
Looking at the smoke from the explosion, Sai was filled with vigilance and unease; sneaking up behind him without being detected clearly was no ordinary ninja.
"Specializing in dealing with people like you, sneaking in quietly...."
Deepa emerged perfectly fine from the smoke. He was a member of Shell Organization's inner array, persuaded by Victor to secretly create the Divine Tree together to boost his own power.
Being chosen by Victor wasn't just due to disregarding Shell Organization's ambitions, but it was naturally due to Deepa's strength. His ability was to condense absorbed carbon into extremely high density and control it, more challenging than many Kekkeigenkai.
"What are you in this base? What's your position? You wouldn't just be a minor pawn, would you...."
Sai calmly analyzed inside, yet his words aimed to probe this person's trump card, contemplating whether to use a Signal Flare to call for teammate support....
"You only need to know that I'm here to handle you. Take your doubts to the Netherworld, hehe..."
Deepa wore a cruel smile, then raised his hand towards Sai.
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In Konoha Ninja Village at the same time, it was now nighttime. Apart from streetlights and a few billboards, all households had entered the realm of dreams.
Although Konoha Ninja Village constantly faced sudden Exotic Beast disasters, the higher-ups didn't inform the villagers, leaving them unaware.
Only the Kages of the Five Great Ninja Villages and the Daimyos of the Five Great Countries knew and made some preparations.
"The Elixir is ready, but I'm not sure how it will affect ninjas. Based on my thoughts, it should have long-lasting effects.... I'll find someone to test it another day."
Uchiha Yoichi emerged from the Divine Power Space, realizing a lot of time had passed. Crafting high-grade elixirs was very time-consuming. Luckily, he consumed the Flame-Flame Fruit, allowing his control over Golden Emperor Heaven-Burning Flame to reach an extreme.
Even during Flame Elementalization, Uchiha Yoichi himself was the Golden Emperor Heaven-Burning Flame.
During the phase of refining and extracting medicinal material essence, Uchiha Yoichi could significantly shorten the time, and his success rate was dozens of times higher than other Alchemists. In this stage, no one was better than him.
This time, Uchiha Yoichi first crafted a Fighting Spirit Pill, although he preferred to call it the Upper Ninja Pill.
Uchiha Yoichi made some changes, swapping several medicinal materials in the Fighting Spirit Pill according to the ninja's Chakra characteristics, adding Stone of Nature and his own blood.
The crafted Sixth-Grade Upper Ninja Pill could let an ordinary person gain Elite Jonin-level Chakra after consumption. If a Jonin consumed it, their Chakra would increase even more, certainly reaching Kage-level ninja Chakra.
This enhancement is permanent, not just temporarily gained or fading after Chakra depletion.
"Find someone to test it, but such valuable elixirs can't be given to ordinary people....."
After storing the elixir, Uchiha Yoichi checked the time, finding it was precisely night.
However, he felt wide awake, unable to sleep, yet didn't want to continue alchemy.
"Dream Master ability is gone, should I change again... forget it, save some extraction attempts, let's do something else tonight."
Uchiha Yoichi suddenly thought of visiting Ino. Although he often met Ino in dreams, he hadn't seen her in reality for a long time; previously, Yamanaka Ino was always busy and rarely home, today was different.
Under Spiritual Power perception, Ino was currently at home. Uchiha Yoichi formed an idea, leaving his house to head towards the Yamanaka Family.
In front of the Yamanaka Family was a flower shop, and behind it was where Ino's family lived.
After finishing dinner, Yamanaka Ino took a bath, planning to have a comfortable night's sleep. Recently, she frequently dreamed of being married to Uchiha Yoichi, touring the entire Ninja World. Apart from feeling the bed damp in the morning, everything felt perfect to Yamanaka Ino.
She often thought to herself that if she had married Uchiha Yoichi back then, her life might be better now...
Knock knock!
A sudden noise came from the window, startling Yamanaka Ino. Seeing a branch against the window, she quickly got out of bed and walked towards the window.
Opening it, she found someone standing in the courtyard; it was Uchiha Yoichi. This made Yamanaka Ino both surprised and delighted. She was happy to see Uchiha Yoichi after such a long time, but surprised because this was her home, and Ijin had just gone to sleep.
Uchiha Yoichi jumped up, grabbing the window ledge with his hand. Yamanaka Ino gave him a hand, allowing him to come in; there wasn't a hint of flaw in his act.
After closing the window, Yamanaka Ino quickly lowered her voice and said to Uchiha Yoichi, "Idiot, why did you come here? This is my home, you're way too...."
Uchiha Yoichi feigned pain and said, "I haven't seen Lady Ino for a long time, I couldn't resist my longing for you, I'm sorry....."
Love-struck Ino had no resistance to such sweet words, feeling as if an arrow had pierced her heart, blushing as she turned her head and said, "Even so, you can't come to my house, what if someone sees...."
"Don't worry, Lady Ino, I used an invisibility command spell when I came; others can't see me. It's a technique of the Yin Yang Masters."
After speaking, Uchiha Yoichi reached out and held Yamanaka Ino's hand, which was still so fair and smooth.
"Lady Ino, did you miss me?"
"... I did, I thought about you."
Blushing, Yamanaka Ino spoke softly and then, seeing the smile on Uchiha Yoichi's face, let out a shy yet annoyed hum, "Just a little bit, don't get too cocky~"
"But my thoughts of Lady Ino are many, I can't do anything, all I think about is you..."
Uchiha Yoichi could come up with lies effortlessly, looking at Yamanaka Ino with deep affection, completely ignoring who had been with Temari the past two days.
"You, don't say that, I know...."
Taken aback by the barrage of sweet words, Yamanaka Ino hesitantly explained, "The village has been so busy lately, I hardly have any time...."
"That's why I couldn't help but come to you, Lady Ino!"
As Uchiha Yoichi leaned in, he caught a whiff of her fragrance, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"No, Yoichi, here... This is the bedroom, Ijin is still here...."
Perceiving Uchiha Yoichi's intentions, Yamanaka Ino softly refused, besides, this is also the room she shares with Sai. Doing anything here would be too unfair to Sai.
"It's okay, Lady Ino, we'll be quiet. I haven't seen you in days..."
Uchiha Yoichi's hands moved slowly, soon overcoming Yamanaka Ino's resistance; with him, there was no secret on her body, and soon that bothersome bathrobe was set aside.
Under the moonlight streaming through the window, a perfect, jade-like body lay before Uchiha Yoichi, who then pulled her onto the bed.
"Yoichi, we can't do this here tonight..."
"We can't, Yoichi, please, listen to me tonight..."
"Tomorrow, I'll come find you tomorrow, no way tonight.... um~"
Squeak, squeak.....
The familiar sounds of a new guest arrived on the double bed.
On the wall above the bed, a photo hung, in which Yamanaka Ino and Sai had happy smiles on their faces.
Yet now, Yamanaka Ino's heart was filled with happiness as her gaze blurred, and in the photo on the wall, the man's face gradually transformed into Uchiha Yoichi's.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Isn't mom awake yet? Did I get up too early...."
Having risen, Yamanaka Ijin found the kitchen empty. Comparing with the clock on the wall, he was indeed up a bit early.
Plus, he knew his mom, Ino, had been very busy and might be exhausted, so he didn't go knocking on the door.
Bang bang bang!
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Yamanaka Ijin went to open it upon hearing the noise, seeing an unknown Konoha ninja outside, he asked, "Is there something you need?"
"Is Jonin Yamanaka not here?"
"Mom is still resting; she's been very tired recently. If it's not urgent, you can tell me, and I'll pass along the message later..."
The Konoha ninja hesitated but still said, "Sai has returned, he's at Konoha Hospital. The Seventh Hokage sent me to inform Jonin Yamanaka, please go and tell her quickly."
"What's wrong with dad....."
Yamanaka Ino immediately sensed something was wrong, quickly ran inside, and while dashing upstairs she shouted, "Mom, wake up, something might have happened to dad!"